Reinhold Oscar Albert Schmidt (1897–1974) was a

fraudster In law, fraud is intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover mone ...

and convicted

embezzler Embezzlement (from Anglo-Norman, from Old French ''besillier'' ("to torment, etc."), of unknown origin) is a type of financial crime, usually involving theft of money from a business or employer. It often involves a trusted individual taking ...

who was one of the more obscure

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO) is an object or phenomenon seen in the sky but not yet identified or explained. The term was coined when United States Air Force (USAF) investigations into flying saucers found too broad a range of shapes ...

contactees Contactees are persons who claim to have experienced contact with extraterrestrial life, extraterrestrials. Some claimed ongoing encounters, while others claimed to have had as few as a single encounter. Evidence is anecdotal in all cases. As a c ...

of the 1950s.

Career and UFO contact claims

Schmidt was born and grew up in Nebraska, where he worked for most of his adult life as a grain buyer and dealer. In 1938, he was convicted of embezzlement and was imprisoned in the

Nebraska State Penitentiary The Nebraska State Penitentiary (NSP) is a state correctional facility for the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. Located in Lincoln, it is the oldest state correctional facility in Nebraska, opening in 1869. Until after World War I ...

. According to Schmidt, while driving through a rural area near

Kearney, Nebraska Kearney ( ) is the county seat of Buffalo County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 33,790 in the 2020 census, making it the 5th most populous city in Nebraska. It is home to the University of Nebraska at Kearney. The westward pus ...

on November 5, 1957, he saw a large, blimp-shaped object on the ground in a field. He claimed two men left the object and escorted him inside it, wherein he witnessed a group of four men and two women speaking a language he described as "

High German The High German languages (, i.e. ''High German dialects''), or simply High German ( ) – not to be confused with Standard High German which is commonly also called "High German" – comprise the varieties of German spoken south of the Ben ...

." The group claimed to be from the planet

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

. After a conversation lasting about thirty minutes, Schmidt departed the craft and ascended into the air, revealing large propellers at each end. Following this alleged experience Schmidt contacted the local

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

and brought two local police officers to view the supposed landing site, whereat a greasy, greenish substance was observed. That same evening Schmidt began publicizing his story via telephone, radio interviews and a television appearance. The police were skeptical, and held him overnight in jail while they continued their investigation. After uncovering his prior embezzlement conviction and finding a can of green motor oil near the alleged contact site, Schmidt was transferred to the Hastings State Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.

Publicity

Schmidt traveled with alleged UFO contactees Wayne Sulo Aho and John Otto on their lecture circuit, and in 1958 published an account of his claimed experience entitled ''The Kearney Incident Up To Now: The Report of Reinhold Schmidt.'' Schmidt also contacted

exploitation Exploitation may refer to: *Exploitation of natural resources *Exploitation of Animals *Exploitation of labour **Forced labour *Exploitation colonialism *Slavery **Sexual slavery and other forms *Oppression *Psychological manipulation In arts an ...

movie producers June and

Ron Ormond Ron Ormond (August 29, 1910 – May 11, 1981) was an American author, showman, screenwriter, film producer, and film director of Western, musical, and exploitation horror films. Following his survival of a 1968 plane crash, Ormond began making ...

about making a film based on his alleged experiences. The film, ''Edge of Tomorrow'', premiered on May 28, 1961 at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles. Shortly after this, Schmidt's 1958 booklet was republished under the title ''Edge of Tomorrow''. Schmidt also had a minor role in another exploitation film produced by the Ormonds, ''Please Don't Touch Me''.

Trial and second criminal conviction

Schmidt relocated to

Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in and the county seat of Kern County, California, United States. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, which is located in the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's population as of the ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, where he continued to present lectures about his alleged UFO experience for the next few years, soliciting money from audience members that, he claimed, he would use to mine unique crystals identified for him by his extraterrestrial contacts. In late 1961, Schmidt went on trial for

grand theft Theft (, cognate to ) is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal short ...

, charged with tricking several elderly women out of over $30,000 by claiming that flying saucers had directed him to a mine that was full of "free energy crystals." The prosecution called

Carl Sagan Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is his research on the possibility of extraterrestrial life, including e ...

to testify that the planet Saturn could not support life, an experience later described by Sagan in his 1966 book ''Intelligent Life in the Universe'', using the pseudonym "Henry Winckler" for Schmidt. Schmidt insisted that the jury be shown his film ''Edge of Tomorrow''. Schmidt was convicted on October 26, 1961, and sentenced in June 1963 to a term of one to ten years in prison. Following his release from prison, Schmidt returned to Nebraska, where he died in 1974.Clark, 1039.

References

External links

The Saucers That Time Forgot: The Trial of a UFO Gold Digger
a detailed account of the Reinhold O. Schmidt saucer story, including his crimes, trial, conviction, and post-prison life.
''The Kearney Incident Up to Now''
Schmidt's first booklet.
"The Reinhold Schmidt Story"
in ''AFSCA World Report'' no. 13-15 (Jan.-Jan. 1960), another account of Schmidt's contacts. * . {{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt, Reinhold O. 1897 births 1974 deaths Contactees American people convicted of fraud